The Community Memorial (CMH) health network will no longer require employees to have the COVID vaccination as a condition of employment, following updated guidelines from the state and federal levels.

CMH Infection Preventionist Shelly Trost, RN, noted that the declaration made by the federal government stating the COVID public health emergency has ended, which allows the organization to adjust both daily screening requirements for employees, vendors, patients and visitors, along with the mandatory vaccination requirement for employees. “The past few years have impacted our daily operations in an effort to keep everyone safe,” noted Trost. “Now, these updates by the New York State Department of Health around COVID have allowed Community Memorial to return to some pre-pandemic procedures while maintaining patient safety.”

In May, the state’s Department of Health started the process of repealing the COVID vaccine requirement for workers in health settings; hospitals, nursing homes, and more. This was previously implemented in August of 2021 by former Governor Cuomo and resulted in a massive number of healthcare workers leaving their jobs due to vaccination non-compliance.

“While Community Memorial recommends employees be vaccinated against all necessary infectious diseases, we anticipate this change in regulation will better allow us to fill open positions,” added Leeann Light, Vice President of Human Resources. “We welcome colleagues that were part of the CMH family and left due to the mandate to consider returning.”

CMH continues to educate and encourage employees, patients and visitors about the signs and symptoms of any viral illness, including COVID, and requests diligence to prevent the spread of illness within the hospital and its five Family Health Centers by using standard precautions and proper hand hygiene.

To see all open positions within the Community Memorial network, please visit https://communitymemorial.org/careers/ or call the Human Resources Department at 315.824.6133.

For 70 years, Community Memorial Hospital’s mission has been to provide quality and caring healthcare to thousands of patients throughout nearly 30 Central New York communities throughout Madison County and beyond. Community Memorial provides primary care services with a network of five Family Health Centers (Hamilton, Cazenovia, Morrisville, Munnsville, and Waterville), an after-hours urgent care clinic – available in the evenings and weekends, and 24/7 emergency medicine services.